Domino effect in Novopay debacle

NZEI Te Riu Roa remains
unconvinced that the problems with the Novopay payroll
system for school staff will be ironed out before the next
payroll period and it is becoming apparent that the problems
are having effects way beyond schools and their staff
salaries.

Problems have surfaced with payments to third
parties taken directly from salaries such as to IRD for
child support, student loans and payments to Kiwisaver and
other superannuation providers.

NZEI president Ian Leckie
says he, himself, has experienced problems with his
salary.

“I have been underpaid in two pay cycles and
this still has not been resolved and my superannuation
payments ceased with the introduction of Novopay and have
still to be reinstated.”

NZEI National Secretary Paul
Goulter says it is apparent that there had been a woeful
lack of preparation for the roll-out of Novopay.

“There
are a lot of end-of-year holiday payments in this round due
for payment next week and as Christmas looms and shut-down
periods for many institutions beyond schools are imminent,
we are heading into a quagmire which will come at huge
personal cost,” Paul Goulter says.

Mr Goulter says
that NZEI support staff members who work in both primary and
secondary schools on payroll were vindicated by comments
made by Talent2 (the company which administers
Novopay).

In Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint yesterday,
Talent2 chief executive John Rawlinson said that schools
staff were not able to get the benefit of the training in
‘’sector readiness’’ and it was “compounded by
mistakes early in the payroll that lifted the level of
frustration and anxiety in using the new system.”

Mr
Rawlinson said it may take another year for payroll staff to
be “comfortable with it.”

“Our members have worked
tirelessly to get the problems sorted. They are hard-working
and committed and this just shows the Novopay system was not
user-friendly, too complex and not trialled properly,” Mr
Goulter
says.

NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.

We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa - New Zealand's largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.

We have the most important job in New Zealand - educating for the future.

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